Kishore Biyani conferred ''international retailer of the year'' award

Kishore BiyaniNew Delhi: Apex US retail body, National Retail Federation (NRF), has conferred ''international retailer of the year award'' on Kishore Biyani, managing director, Pantaloon Retail India Ltd.

The award was presented to Biyani at NRF''s 96th annual convention and expo on 16 January in New York.

NRF is the world''s largest retail trade association with a membership that comprises all retail formats and channels of distribution and its award is traditionally given to companies that achieve an international reputation for creative genius, inspirational leadership and distinguished service to the retail industry.

Previous recipients of this award are Metro AG (Germany), Carrefour (France), Ito Tokada Group (Japan), Zara (Spain) and Boticario (Brazil).

Accepting the award Biyani said, "It would have been more appropriate if we had got the award after global retailers have stepped into India. We are in a no-competition scenario currently but we excel in what we do to delight our Indian consumers."

Biyani also said, "We can take a person out of India but not India out of a person. We have a deep understanding of Indian consumers and we offer everything they need every time, everywhere through every format of retailing".

According to Farooq Kathwari, chairman, NRF, "Pantaloon Retail India Ltd is the unanimous choice of the jury for the International Retailer of the Year Award this year. We applaud the impressive growth of the organisation whose turnover is poised to become $6 billion by 2010".

The other awardees were Reed Hastings, founder chairman and CEO of Netflix, who received NRF''s innovator of the year award and Millard Drexler, chairman and CEO, J Crew Group, Inc, who received NRF''s gold medal for retailing excellence.